Education for sustainability

Education for sustainability

Various regulations and programs at European and national level emphasize the need to strengthen sustainability education in the education and training sector in order to move towards a greener and more sustainable future. Among them, the UNESCO guide Education for Sustainable Development Goals: learning objectives, the recommendations for the EU Council Recommendation on learning for the green transition and sustainable development and its working document Learning for the green transition and sustainable development, point to:

• Putting environmental sustainability at the center of education.
• Innovate for effective and holistic sustainability learning
• To train educators and trainers of any discipline or sector in sustainability.

At the state level, Article 4 of Royal Decree 822/2021 literally establishes the guiding principles in the design of curricula for official university degrees: they must be based on democratic principles and values and on the SDGs and, in particular, on the treatment of sustainability and climate change.

For all these reasons, the objectives of this area in CITES are:

• Research on Strategies for introducing sustainability education in higher education.
• Development of educational tools and resources for sustainability education.
• Teacher training in sustainability education.
• STEM training in sustainability.
• Continue developing the Forest and Sustainability project in secondary schools in Catalonia, to show young people the essential ecosystem services of this natural resource.
• Raise awareness among high school students of the need to contribute to saving water and energy at home, as well as to change their transportation and eating habits.
• Organize actions in the form of Exhibitions, Fairs... to disseminate sustainability in different areas.